Yahaira Placencia

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Posted:
Monday, August 22, 2011 2:10 pm

Ask Yahaira “Jay” Placencia who has been the most influential person in her career, and the answer you get back is a sample of a who’s who in the local business community.

William Hatfield, Bank of America’s Rhode Island president; Neil Steinberg, president of The Rhode Island Foundation; Armeather Gibbs, former chief operating officer at the United Way of Rhode Island are among the names on Placencia’s list.

It’s no wonder then that Placencia has risen to senior vice president and senior client manager at Bank of America, responsible for overseeing relationships with key commercial clients and developing strategies to help for-profit entities and nonprofits reach their long-term goals through BofA products and services.

She said her skills – including being fluent in English and Spanish – are suited for the job.

“I consider myself a good networker and ‘connector’ of people,” she said in her 40 Under Forty application, citing her ability to be “genuine and honest” with clients as the secret to her success.

Placencia, 38, said she manages a portfolio of more than 115 depository and lending relationships, and she is assigned to assess financial condition and credit worthiness of clients with annual revenue ranging from $2.5 million to $35 million.

Among her most noteworthy accomplishments: generating more than $28 million in new loans and $13 million in new deposit business in 2008 and 2009, in the midst of the most severe crisis in the financial markets in recent memory.

Outside of bank business, Placencia has served on 10 local nonprofits’ boards and she is the president of the Rhode Island Building Owners Association and a board member of the Providence Redevelopment Agency. •

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